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Inspiring Critical, Creative and Curious Thinkers!Wed, 23 Jan 2019 13:24:02 +0000en-US
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1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.2124970388Teachers Are Candle Lightershttps://thinkingzone.org/teachers-are-candle-lighters/
https://thinkingzone.org/teachers-are-candle-lighters/#respondMon, 06 May 2019 22:50:50 +0000https://thinkingzone.org/?p=3095As I was reflecting about Teacher Appreciation Week, the text: Teaching from the Heart: Reflections, Encouragement, and Inspiration by Sharon Draper came to mind. In the essay “Candles,” Draper celebrates a teacher’s selflessness and chooses the candle as a felicitous symbol to describe how we teach so that others can reach their goals. As Draper reveals, the essence of education Continue Reading

]]>As I was reflecting about Teacher Appreciation Week,
the text: Teaching from the Heart: Reflections, Encouragement, and Inspiration by Sharon Draper came to mind. In the essay “Candles,” Draper celebrates a
teacher’s selflessness and chooses the candle as a felicitous symbol to
describe how we teach so that others can reach their goals.

As Draper reveals, the
essence of education is knowledge and learning. Our students are the candles in
the darkness, and our job is to show them how to shine, to keep their flames
bright, intense, and flickering. They
are the brilliant flames of possibility, and teachers are the candle
lighters. So, light those candles and
watch them shine.

I wish to thank teachers everywhere for the sacrifices they make so that others can excel. Teachers instruct, encourage, praise, influence, share, guide, and inspire. For these actions, and for the multitude of others, teachers deserve our appreciation.

As I wish all teachers a Happy Teacher Appreciation Week, I wish to leave them with these wise words from Irish poet William Butler Yeats: "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." When teachers pose a problem for a group of minds to wrestle with, the fire they light has the power to change the world!

]]>https://thinkingzone.org/teachers-are-candle-lighters/feed/03095April Is Autism Awareness Monthhttps://thinkingzone.org/april-is-autism-awareness-month/
https://thinkingzone.org/april-is-autism-awareness-month/#respondSat, 13 Apr 2019 11:59:50 +0000https://thinkingzone.org/?p=3089The first National Autism Awareness Month was declared by the Autism Society in April 1970, and in 2015, then President Barack Obama issued a White House proclamation recognizing World Autism Awareness Day as April 2. These designations are part of a nationwide effort to promote autism awareness, inclusion, and self-determination for all and to assure that each person with an Continue Reading

]]>The first National Autism
Awareness Month was declared by the Autism Society in April 1970, and in 2015,
then President Barack Obama issued a White House
proclamation recognizing World Autism Awareness Day as April 2.

These
designations are part of a nationwide effort to
promote autism awareness, inclusion, and self-determination for all and to
assure that each person with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is afforded the
opportunity to achieve the highest possible quality of life. ASD affects about one in every 68 children in the United States
and is the fastest-growing disability category in Montana’s public education
system.

According
to the Autism Society, the April 2019 celebration will go beyond simply
promoting autism awareness to encouraging a movement towards acceptance and
appreciation. Acceptance and
appreciation are actions that invite a focus on sharing positive,
respectful, and accurate information about autism and autistic people. Their website states that “autism means being
different, not less.”

Autism Acceptance Month also promotes
acceptance and celebration of autistic people as family members, friends,
classmates, co-workers, and community members making valuable contributions to
society. After all, autism is a natural variation of the human experience,
and together we can create a world which values, includes, and celebrates
all kinds of minds.

Adopted in 1999 as the universal sign of
autism awareness, the puzzle ribbon is a trademark of the Autism Society and
was selected for its multiple meanings—primarily to send the message that
regardless of one’s shape and uniqueness, we are all part of the great puzzle
of life.

For the Society’s purposes, the ribbon’s
puzzle pattern reflects the complexity of the autism spectrum, and the different
colors and shapes represent the diversity of the people and families living
with the condition. The brightness of the ribbon signals hope — hope that
through increased awareness of autism and through early intervention and access
to appropriate services and supports, people with autism will lead full lives,
interacting with the world on their own terms.

In April, the Autism Society encourages
people to Put on Your Puzzle by
displaying a magnetic Autism Awareness Puzzle Ribbon on their cars, lockers, or
refrigerators or by wearing an Autism Ribbon Lapel Pin or pinning one on a
backpack. Both are available for
purchase from the Autism Society’s on-line store. People can also post the ribbon on their
Facebook walls.

Despite the spotlight attention ASD
receives in April, support through social media,
donations, events, or other advocacy efforts are essential year-round as we
work to achieve a more just world.

]]>https://thinkingzone.org/april-is-autism-awareness-month/feed/03089April: National Poetry Monthhttps://thinkingzone.org/april-national-poetry-month/
https://thinkingzone.org/april-national-poetry-month/#respondThu, 21 Mar 2019 02:59:05 +0000https://thinkingzone.org/?p=3083April is National Poetry Month, so as you plan lessons for the coming month, consider incorporating poetry into your lessons. For example, try pairing two short poems to make a mini-study of a concept, theme, structure, or perspective. In the space of a class period, it’s possible to employ multiple reading strategies while enriching discussion and broadening perspectives. With his Continue Reading

]]>April is National Poetry Month, so as you plan lessons for the coming month, consider incorporating poetry into your lessons. For example, try pairing two short poems to make a mini-study of a concept, theme, structure, or perspective. In the space of a class period, it’s possible to employ multiple reading strategies while enriching discussion and broadening perspectives. With his Poetry Across the Curriculum idea, Brett Vogelsinger encourages students to compare two poems side by side to foster deep thinking and rich discussion—even in classes beyond English Language Arts. Vogelsinger not only offers three lesson ideas but also shares a rationale for starting each day with a poem. His ideas are designed for high school students, but with wisely selected, developmentally appropriate poems, the lessons can be adapted for any age group.

For other ideas on using poetry across the curriculum, check out science poems
to supplement science lessons, and visit the Poetry
Foundation to find concepts for exploring predator-prey
relationships, the ecosystem, hibernation, the scientific method,
constellations, astronomy, and deciduous trees.
To support math sense, check out this site,
which implements poetry to support the Common Core for teaching number facts
like adding to ten and adding double numbers for younger students, and reinforce
geometry facts, fractions, and money math with older students.

The Academy of American Poets has 30 unique ways of celebrating poetry. Visit their website, poets.org, to learn more about National Poetry Month and other educator resources about poetry. They have a Poem-A-Day section where today's talented poets publish a new poem every day.

One of my all-time favorite National Poetry Month activities is Poem in Your Pocket Day, which was initiated in April 2002 by the Office of the Mayor in New York City, in partnership with the city’s Departments of Cultural Affairs and Education.

On April 18, 2019, the Academy of
American Poets will sponsor Poem in Your Pocket Day. If you carried a poem in your pocket, what
would it be and why would you carry it? In his book of concrete poems Blue Lipstick (Clarion, 2007), John
Grandits features a pocket poem and considers the poem in your pocket
practice "a good idea . . . in case of an emotional emergency,"
calling the poem, "a little snack for your soul." Grandits even suggests that different days
might call for different poems.

>>Here's
my entry as a model for the task: If I carried a poem in my pocket, I'd carry
Taylor Mali's "What teachers make, or You can always go to law school if
things don't work out" from What
Writing Leaves (Hanover Press, 2002). Mali dedicates the poem
to "every teacher who has ever made a difference," and I
love the brazen and bold attitude of the speaker, who talks back to someone's
denigrating challenge: "What do you make?" This poetic
and inspirational tribute reminds me that teaching isn't a job and it
isn't about the salary. Teaching is about the transformational
impact we choose to make in the lives of students. With Mali’s poem in my pocket, I would have a
powerful response to anyone who might criticize a teacher, especially those who
are “waiting for superman.” After
hearing this poem, those critics would know that a cadre of super men and super
women are already here fighting for the lives of students.

]]>https://thinkingzone.org/april-national-poetry-month/feed/03083The Cognitive Efficiency of Rankingshttps://thinkingzone.org/the-cognitive-efficiency-of-rankings/
https://thinkingzone.org/the-cognitive-efficiency-of-rankings/#respondThu, 21 Mar 2019 02:38:48 +0000https://thinkingzone.org/?p=3072Marshalling items into an order or ranking them seems to please our brains. There is a certain cognitive efficiency in such rankings. After all, ranking reflects a type of organization and efficiency. And a top ten list can potentially save a person a lot of time from having to perform individual research. Such a predilection for categorizing an assortment of Continue Reading

]]>Marshalling items into an order or ranking them
seems to please our brains. There is a certain cognitive efficiency in such
rankings. After all, ranking reflects a
type of organization and efficiency. And
a top ten list can potentially save a person a lot of time from having to
perform individual research. Such a
predilection for categorizing an assortment of items into groups might also explain
our desire to bestow awards for best performance or to make predictions like
most likely to succeed.

With the Oscars, which are also known as the Academy
Awards, approaching on February 24, a teacher might wish to harness their
students’ interest to this popular event. Whether with research or with a
statistical analysis, opportunities for learning abound. For years, I have imitated these ranking
systems and tied them to content assessment.

Just as the Oscars, the most prestigious
performance-based awards given in 24 different categories on an annual basis,
show appreciation for a performer’s work in cinema and film, I developed the Academy
Awards Project to assess students’ ability to synthesize their reading of literature
in the English classroom.

I would invite students to make Academy Award-style
judgments. After reading, listening to,
and viewing a variety of literature over the course of a school term, students
would apply that awards ceremony to selecting superlatives in the literary
categories I outlined. These categories
can be tailored to fit the content area and the focus of coursework.

Each student or group of students would be
responsible for ONE of the thirteen categories listed. Then, students
would consider at least five possible nominees; from among these candidates,
they would choose a winner. Such a task
invites them not only to think carefully about how the nominee is explained,
described, portrayed, and developed; but to ensure they develop clear criteria
for what makes a nominee "outstanding." Students were also required to support their
choices and to include comparisons/contrasts to other candidates they
considered. Their written supports would
show readers why the nominees really do stand out.

Outstanding Character--Male: Who was the most outstanding male character in the literature we encountered this term?

Outstanding Character--Female: Who was the most outstanding female character in the literature we encountered this term?

Best Supporting Character--Male: Who was the most outstanding male supporting character in the literature we encountered this term? A supporting character is one who is important to the events of the work, but who is not the main character.

Best Supporting Character--Female: Who was the most outstanding female supporting character in the literature we encountered this term? A supporting character is one who is important to the events of the work, but who is not the main character.

Most Pathetic Character: This is a character who falls far below human standards for whatever reason you wish to cast the character in that position. Perhaps the character is spineless, whiny, lacks the usual coping mechanisms, seems less real than other characters, or for some other reason just doesn't earn any sympathy from readers.

Best Setting: What was the most outstanding setting in the literature we encountered this term? A work can include more than one setting; for instance, there may be several inside rooms that are treated as different settings, or an entire house may work as a setting juxtaposed to an outside setting. Think carefully about how this setting is important to the work as a whole. An outstanding setting is more than a well described place.

Short Story: What was the most outstanding short story we encountered this term? All of the aspects of the story should unite in an exemplary piece of literature. You should account for such aspects as character, setting, plot, structure, tone, point of view, and style.

Poem: What was the most outstanding poem we read this term? All aspects of the poem should unite in an exemplary piece of literature. You should account for such aspects as symbolism, structure, tone, point of view, rhyme, rhythm, and style. Additionally, account for the effectiveness of conventions that apply to the kind of poem you've selected (for example, a dramatic monologue or sonnet).

Novel or Play: What was the most outstanding novel or play we encountered this term? All aspects of the work should unite in an exemplary whole. You should account for such aspects as character, setting, plot, structure, tone, point of view, and style.

Descriptive Passage (50 words or fewer): What was the most outstanding descriptive passage in the literature we encountered this term? The passage can describe anything: a character, a setting, an event, and so forth. Think carefully about how the descriptive setting that you choose works. What kind of detail does it use? What literary techniques does it rely upon? Furthermore, consider what makes this description important to the work as a whole.

Sentence: What was the most outstanding sentence in the literature we encountered this term? The sentence can serve any purpose in the text--exposition, description, and so forth. Think carefully about how the sentence that you choose works. What kind of detail does it use? What literary techniques does it rely upon? What syntactic features does it employ? In addition, think about what makes this sentence important to the work as a whole.

Plot: What was the most outstanding plot in the literature we encountered this term? Think carefully about how the plot is structured; what are the key turning points or events, and how do the components combine in an overall structure that is unique or exemplary?

Use of Symbolism: What was the most outstanding use of symbolism in the literature we encountered this term? How is it symbolic? What does it symbolize? How is the symbol important to the work as a whole? Why does it stand out?

I modified this idea and these categories when I taught
college level literature courses. In the
form of a final examination, I would invite students to recall voting for senior superlatives in their high school yearbooks,
remembering such rankings as a fun way to look back on the people they grew up
with. They would then imitate these categories (i.e. Most Quirky, Best Ride, Most Athletic, Life of the Party, Best
All-around) or invent their own and apply them to their semester reading. A question like this might stimulate and guide
their thinking: Consider
the body of your reading this semester, and looking back on the characters
you’ve met, create a Fiction Memorial in which you reward at least ten characters
for their idiosyncrasies. 1) Write the
award, then after the colon 2) tell which book the character is from, and 3) provide
a brief explanation for why/how the character has earned this status. Although I would share twenty-eight or so
categories, I would encourage creativity and innovation in favor of
limitations.

]]>https://thinkingzone.org/the-cognitive-efficiency-of-rankings/feed/03072Building Better Thinkershttps://thinkingzone.org/building-better-thinkers/
https://thinkingzone.org/building-better-thinkers/#respondWed, 23 Jan 2019 13:23:54 +0000https://thinkingzone.org/?p=3062Living in a world that so honors science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—often called the STEM disciplines—many of us desire a more balanced approach. I found a kindred spirit in social scientist Howard Gardner, whose book Five Minds for the Future (Harvard Business Press, 2008) suggests that in order to live a well-rounded life, we need art, literature, and philosophy as Continue Reading

]]>Living in a world
that so honors science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—often called
the STEM disciplines—many of us desire a more balanced approach. I found a kindred spirit in social scientist
Howard Gardner, whose book Five Minds for the Future (Harvard Business
Press, 2008) suggests that in order to live a well-rounded life, we need art,
literature, and philosophy as well.

To achieve this
balance, Gardner proposes the nurturing of five actions of the mind, calling
them essential in gaining future credibility.
Although he did not present them in this order, so arranged, they create
the acronym CREDS: creating, respectful,
ethical, disciplined, and synthesizing. Listing the habits of mind in this order
makes no value judgment about a hierarchy of importance; it simply provides a
mnemonic device to make the habits easy to recall. In building a case for nurturing these habits
of mind, Gardner
speaks to technological and social change.
Because of computer search engines, individuals no longer need to memorize
a pile of facts. Instead, the
contemporary world and workplace needs people with the ability to survey,
organize, and apply a cornucopia of information.

Fostering
critical thinking or nurturing habits of mind means crafting opportunities for
students to find answers, solve problems, and make decisions in the same way
that practitioners in the disciplines do.
Gardner’s five minds—creating, respectful, ethical, disciplined,
synthesizing—span the cognitive spectrum and promise competence; the use of all
the habits fosters critical thinking. This
critical thinking, these habits of mind, is not something a system can teach,
but educators can design and structure curriculums that facilitate such
thinking. From their own professional
journals and discipline-specific literature/articles, educators will likely
find topics with relevance and currency to nurture CREDS thinking.

After reading Five
Minds for the Future by Howard Gardner, I synthesized five definitions from
Gardner’s theory. According to Gardner, the creating
mind poses unfamiliar questions, conjures fresh ways of thinking, arrives
at unexpected answers, posits new ideas, and considers as many angles as
possible. Creative thinkers are lateral
thinkers with the capacity to shift frameworks, assume alternate identities,
and devise ingenious solutions.
Innovative, creators will strike out in unfamiliar directions and offer
fresh insight. Motivated by uncertainty,
surprise, and disequilibrium, the creator will seek not to order what is known
but to extend knowledge, to ruffle the contours of a genre, to pursue new
visions.

Next, responding
sympathetically and constructively, the respectful mind notes
differences between groups but avoids stereotypes and caricatures. Individuals motivated by respect offer the
benefit of the doubt to all human beings and avoid thinking in group
terms. They consider alternate positions
and examine rivals to personal positions.
Their search to understand and to work with groups and ideas that differ
from their own extends beyond political correctness so that the respectful
thinker will respond sympathetically and constructively. Considering a variety of opinions and
viewpoints, they often challenge the status quo.

Tolerance embodies
the third habit, the ethical mind, which considers the needs and desires
of society. Susceptible to noticing
unprincipled values, the ethically minded will assess character behavior
through the lens of “goodness,” drawing object lessons from instances of
compromised work or violation of acceptable/moral codes of behavior. They will bear witness to destructive
behaviors and to connotations of goodness and best efforts. Ethically minded
persons focus on fulfilling a role that will improve the quality of life and
living. Sensing an obligation to monitor
what others are doing, they may call them to account or make references to an
individual’s role as a citizen oriented towards succeeding generations. Stewards of a domain, they think in terms of
missions, models, and mirrors with little focus on the self.

Gardner’s disciplined
mind shows evidence of training to perfect a skill. It will identify truly important topics or
concepts and approach those topics through diverse entry points. Disciplined minds may focus on and sustain
one argument but will represent it thoroughly to exemplify understanding. Facts are minimized in favor of sense-making,
but these thinkers will search for how something operates and will share
methods and findings. They will apply
themselves diligently, validating any interpretations with textual references
or facts and providing evidence of deep reading.

The final habit,
the synthesizing mind, captures the ability to raise and address the
largest questions. Taking information
from disparate sources, it incorporates new findings and delineates new
dilemmas. Inferring intended emotion
when it has not been explicitly mentioned is another ability of the
synthesizing mind. Synthesizers often
bring concepts to life by invoking metaphors; by capturing wisdom in short,
memorable phrases; or by marshaling concepts into theories. From their reading, even a first draft
response frequently contains a crucial nucleus of the original version. With a proclivity to connect, synthesizers
apply the tools of understanding and engage in the boldest forms of
interdisciplinary connection making.
They discern links and will reference other sources; these will be the
creators of hyperlinks in their blog posts as they seek to generate several
representations of the same idea or concept.
Synthesizing thinkers will also provide a succinct summary of points of
agreement and disagreement; they will evaluate sources and strive for what
Gardner calls multiperspectivism, a recognition of and appreciation for
different analytic perspectives.
Ultimately, the synthesizer seeks order, equilibrium, and closure.

If Gardner’s five
habits of mind—creating, respectful, ethical, disciplined, and synthesizing
(CREDS)—in fact give credentials to youth, educators might consider explicitly
identifying these CREDS and then fostering them through reading, writing, and
critical analysis experiences.
Well-designed classroom activities that foster transactional writing, experimentation,
problem-solving, and intellectual negotiation might facilitate the critical
thinking described by the CREDS habits. Also,
during text and materials selection, teachers might survey texts and materials for
their potential for both affective and cognitive appeal—to both motivate
reading and to stimulate the intellect, so as to assist CREDS habit
development.

Research suggests
that when classroom activities include prompts to stimulate nuanced and complex
thinking and when learners negotiate perspectives with others, they emerge as
more competent in dialogic exchange and in CREDS habits. Such habits may ensure future credibility for
our students while also giving them the balanced mindset essential for survival
in an inter-connected world.

]]>https://thinkingzone.org/building-better-thinkers/feed/03062The Reason for the Season Is in the Tilthttps://thinkingzone.org/the-reason-for-the-season-is-in-the-tilt/
https://thinkingzone.org/the-reason-for-the-season-is-in-the-tilt/#respondWed, 09 Jan 2019 16:37:31 +0000https://thinkingzone.org/?p=3050Science tells us that the season's changes are caused as the Earth, tilted on its axis, travels in a loop around the Sun each year. Because we have no control over those transitions, we humans simply adapt, often by putting on more clothes or taking them off. When I taught in the public schools, I took advantage of these times as an Continue Reading

]]> Science tells us that the season's changes are caused as the Earth, tilted on its axis, travels in a loop around the Sun each year. Because we have no control over those transitions, we humans simply adapt, often by putting on more clothes or taking them off.

When I taught in the public schools, I took advantage of these times as an invitation to write, and when I trained teachers, we developed lesson plans with writing across the curriculum components so that science and language arts could connect, for example.

In conjunction with a unit on seasons, I offer the book Huckleberries, Buttercups, and Celebrations by Jennifer Greene and Antoine Sandoval. Written in poetry-like vignettes, the book explains how the Salish people followed a seasonal calendar that is reflected in their names for each month. Monthly activities showcase the resources and gifts of each season.

Once the book is shared with students, the teacher can invite
students to imitate the text by writing a poem or vignette from their own
cultural heritage to commemorate or illustrate the events from a month. Many of the traditional activities from
Greene’s book continue today among families and in the community, and many of
them vary because of diverse cultural affiliation. Still, Greene’s book offers an opportunity
for a text-to-self connection and extends the opportunity for cultural
learning. As poems or vignettes are
shared, we learn about one another and about other cultures. While the Salish talk of huckleberries, the
Assiniboine may talk of June berries, and the Gros Ventre might speak about
chokecherries.

After
reading Hidden Roots by Joseph
Bruchac during a special topics literature course at Aaniiih Nakoda College
(ANC) during fall semester 2012, one of my students wondered about a focus for
her literary response. I invited her to
notice how Bruchac of the Abenaki/Slavic tribe relates the passage of time with
section titles like Moon of Leaves
Falling (October) and Moon of Long
Nights (December). Throughout the
story, main character, Howard Camp similarly notices weather changes and other
seasonal markers: “It was late August, three months past the time of the
blackflies and a month or more before the first real frost” (27). As an analogy, we discussed concepts like the
shepherd’s calendar, which concentrates on the weather and how it affects the
livestock and the landscape. Native
Americans, too, capture these changes with their own names for the passage of
time. To illustrate, I pulled Huckleberries, Buttercups, and Celebrations
from my bookshelf. In this book—which
preserves the Salish calendar months while commemorating language, culture, and
gifts received from Mother Nature—we read about Bitteroot’s Moon celebrated in
May and Storytelling’s Moon observed in November.

Inspired
by these ideas, my student decided to learn the names and stories behind each
month of the Assiniboine calendar and to create a calendar of her own. In this way, both she and I learned Wicogandu Sugagu Hawi, the season of Moon in the
Middle of Little Brother, and Amhaska
Hawi, Long Day Moon, the Assiniboine words to describe December and
January.

We
enrich our learning with such literacy experiences as we promote and honor
cultural identity. When readers see
themselves represented in stories or when teachers make explicit efforts to
connect their school learning to their lives, they realize that they matter,
that their experiences count.

All
students will benefit if we take the time to learn about one another. Cultural relevance also plays a role in
motivation and engagement.

]]>https://thinkingzone.org/the-reason-for-the-season-is-in-the-tilt/feed/03050Kindness Remindershttps://thinkingzone.org/kindness-reminders/
https://thinkingzone.org/kindness-reminders/#respondThu, 27 Dec 2018 17:41:32 +0000https://thinkingzone.org/?p=3044Over the past few weeks while the winter holidays have consumed our lives, we might wonder: Why do we celebrate holidays? Actually, that question makes a good Think About (Available at www.thinkingzone.org). Teachers might invite their students to pen a list. Just as there are as many different definitions for normal as there are people on this planet, each list Continue Reading

]]>Over the past few weeks while the winter holidays have consumed our lives, we might wonder: Why do we celebrate holidays? Actually, that question makes a good Think About (Available at www.thinkingzone.org). Teachers might invite their students to pen a list. Just as there are as many different definitions for normal as there are people on this planet, each list will be unique. My short list would include these reasons: the rich sensory engagement, the giving, the sharing of our time with family and friends, the cultural elements, and the traditions that accompany celebration. A holiday, whether April Fool’s Day or Christmas, forces us to pause from the hustle and bustle of our day to day routines so that we might tune-in to all of the great things we have going on in our lives that we overlook or take for granted. We are more likely to count our blessings during the holidays because there are movies, games, music, and events to help remind us that we have a lot to be grateful for. In essence, a holiday forces us to change our routine, to take a break from work and to focus on something special. Holidays remind us that we are made for something more than work—those somethings might include joy. After all, we don’t live in order to work, but work in order that we might live and laugh and love!

In the spirit of celebration and the promotion of living a joy-filled life, from January 16-February 14, consider holding a classroom contest to see how many times the class catches others being kind to one another. You can construct a kindness tree and see how many leaves it grows based on the number of times you and others in the class catch one another exhibiting one of the seven sacred teachings or virtues. For example, when someone is caught in an act of honesty, truth, humility, love, wisdom, courage, or respect (or whatever classroom virtues you value), that person’s name is written on a leaf with a brief note about the action.

This project works effectively at this time of year
because Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) and Valentine were both social activists
who fought for civil rights and against injustice. Just as MLK stood for peace, equality and justice—especially
for African-Americans and the socially disadvantaged—, “Valentinus,” from the
Latin word for worthy, strong, or powerful, came to represent love. Both heroes were martyrs about whom you can
discover more at these sites:

A project
like this not only opens up for discussion the topics of bullying and injustice
but also encourages positive behavior and social
justice as children see how simple and rewarding it is to express kindness,
appreciation, and love on a daily basis.

If you used the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today by Carol McCloud at the beginning of the year to build community and to open discussion on the topics of kindness versus bullying and mistaken behavior, you can revisit that text experience by making a comparison to MLK Day. If you didn’t use the book earlier, you might consider using it now. You might even consider reading Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport or watching the video reading of the book at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc39Ka8ut6k and then asking students to consider MLK’s bucket-filling nature and bucket-filling qualities. What did others do to dip into MLK’s bucket? How did MLK respond to bucket dippers?

Rappaport’s picture-book biography is an excellent and
accessible introduction for young readers to learn about one of the world's
most influential leaders, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Rappaport weaves the
immortal words of Dr. King into a narrative that tells the story of his life.
With complementary illustrations by artist Bryan Collier, Martin's Big Words is an unforgettable portrait of a man
whose dream changed the world forever.

Picture books like these work at all levels because their
topics cross age lines and remind us of the most basic of human needs: kindness
and acceptance.

]]>https://thinkingzone.org/kindness-reminders/feed/03044Recipe for Successhttps://thinkingzone.org/recipe-for-success/
Tue, 27 Nov 2018 03:34:16 +0000https://thinkingzone.org/?p=3027Around the holidays, I often think of food—perhaps because there is an abundance of food served to celebrate family gatherings or perhaps because holidays feature menu items that aren’t everyday fare—treats like cheesy potatoes, shrimp cocktail, and prime rib or peanut brittle, frosted cut-out cookies, and pecan pie. Foods also connect us to culture, so holidays might mean peach kuchen Continue Reading

]]>Around the holidays, I often think of food—perhaps because there is an abundance of food served to celebrate family gatherings or perhaps because holidays feature menu items that aren’t everyday fare—treats like cheesy potatoes, shrimp cocktail, and prime rib or peanut brittle, frosted cut-out cookies, and pecan pie.

Foods also connect us to culture, so holidays might mean peach kuchen if you’re German, lefse if you have Norwegian roots, or huckleberry honey cakes if you’re American Indian. The list could go on to embrace every culture and its diverse food practices.

Psychologists suggest that food memories are strong ones because of the sensory information our brains receive. With food, we engage all of our senses, so food memories aren’t just based on the facts or on our need for survival; they are shaped by the context ― the company, the situation, and the emotions involved. Perhaps those psychological triggers explain why people who eat together form bonds.

Teachers can harness this information with writing prompts to engage the brain, making writing almost effortless. Try these prompts to get your students writing:

Read the following poem and think about the taste, candy, or experience that acts as a portal, transporting you back to childhood, to being ten again. In your writing, consider sensory details that bring the experience to life; use colors, feelings, tastes, and smells to make the memory vivid:

Adams Country Store

When extra money begged to be spent,

we pedaled our bikes two miles

to Adams Country Store

on the corner of Raymond and Lolo Streets, where penny candy lined up in boxes

Comfort foods are those we may turn to when we’re under emotional stress or when we long for the security of childhood. For most of us, certain foods promise solace as much as they do fuel. What are your comfort foods?

Gary Soto wrote a poem called “Eating Mexican Food” in which he provides seven playful rules for how to eat Mexican food. For example, “Rule #1: Don’t pick up the tortilla / with your fork.” Write a series of steps for how to do something.

Retell/describe an unpleasant memory you have with a meal or eating a particular food.

What candy, dessert, or other food describes you or a family member? Explain.

Meatier topics with an obliquely related theme:

In his book The Essential 55, Ron Clark advises: “Always make sure there are seven things in your life at all times: laughter, family, adventure, good food, challenge, change, and the quest for knowledge. With all of those things, you can grow, enjoy life, and become a better type of person you can be proud of.” What are your seven essentials for a complete and satisfying life?

Tony Dorsett, former American football running back in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos, claims that “to succeed. . . you need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you.” Based on your life experiences to date, what do you define as the ingredients for success?

Using the language of cookbooks, write a recipe for success. Use the template below if you like:

]]>3027Ripples in a Pondhttps://thinkingzone.org/ripples-in-a-pond/
Fri, 02 Nov 2018 18:42:45 +0000https://thinkingzone.org/?p=3016Growing up, I remember frequent reminders to think before speaking; therefore, cautions like “be sure brain is engaged before putting mouth in gear” resonate with me. While teaching, I frequently reminded my high school students, “Just because an idea crosses your mind doesn’t mean it has to cross your lips.” If anyone audaciously retorted, “I have a right to my Continue Reading

]]>Growing up, I remember frequent reminders to think before speaking; therefore, cautions like “be sure brain is engaged before putting mouth in gear” resonate with me. While teaching, I frequently reminded my high school students, “Just because an idea crosses your mind doesn’t mean it has to cross your lips.” If anyone audaciously retorted, “I have a right to my opinion,” I would tactfully remind the individual, “You also have an obligation to decency.”

The topic of obligation brings to mind what sociologist Helen Fein (1979) calls one’s universe of obligation. According to Fein, how the members of a group, a community, or a nation define who belongs and who does not has a lot to do with how they define their universe of obligation. Although Fein uses the phrase to describe the group of individuals within a society “toward whom obligations are owed, to whom rules apply, and whose injuries call for amends” (4), we might also refer to an individual’s universe of obligation.

I connect this notion to Urie Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) Ecological Systems Theory. Influenced by fellow developmental psychologist Lev Vygotsky, Brofenbrenner theorized that the influence of many institutions and settings—including social, political, and economic conditions—interact and affect the developing human. Brofenbrenner depicted these settings with interconnecting layers. Like ripples in a pond, the model suggests that interactions between individuals and their environments shape personal development over time.

To open a conversation about obligation, I might invite students to sketch and label these universes. Once they have considered to whom they owe responsibility in their immediate environments, I suggest they move beyond the family and friends circle to consider neighborhoods, communities, institutions, and other social systems to which they may feel an obligation. As students sketch and label these universes, the teacher might lead a discussion about any factors that influence how we define our universe of obligation and the roles that cultural values and altruism play in restricting or enlarging this universe. We might also discuss three additional concepts: 1) The ways in which an individual might communicate who is part of his or her universe of obligation and who is not, 2) The consequences that might transpire when a breakdown in the universe of obligation occurs, and 3) How this breakdown may contribute to prejudiced attitudes and to an escalation of hate if left unchecked.

From this exercise and discussion, students might take away a key fact: Everything we do and think affects the people in our lives, and their reactions in turn affect others. Therefore, the choices we make have far-reaching consequences. When we begin to see the world through these new eyes and to understand that each of us carries within us the capacity to change the world in small ways for better or for worse, we might also begin to view our obligations differently. Perhaps when we encounter prejudice, we might intervene and interrupt hurt, we might create conditions that reduce instances of injustice, or we might refuse to remain silent. Hopefully, students who have undergone this training will adopt Anna Sewell’s stance in Black Beauty: “With cruelty and oppression, it is everybody’s business to interfere when they see it” (106).

]]>3016National Bullying Prevention Monthhttps://thinkingzone.org/national-bullying-prevention-month/
Sun, 07 Oct 2018 18:03:35 +0000https://thinkingzone.org/?p=3004October has been designated as National Bullying Prevention Month. What does it say about society that we have a month designated to raise awareness about something as basic as human kindness? I realize that I can’t change the cruelties in this world. No matter how hard I try, I won’t be able to prevent murder, hunger, or disease from affecting Continue Reading

]]>October has been designated as National Bullying Prevention Month. What does it say about society that we have a month designated to raise awareness about something as basic as human kindness?

I realize that I can’t change the cruelties in this world. No matter how hard I try, I won’t be able to prevent murder, hunger, or disease from affecting millions. Despite my nudging words and invitation to see from another perspective, I can’t always flip a switch and change a person’s perspective or heal a broken mind. I don’t always say the right things or give the best advice. But I’d rather die trying to make the world a better place than passively sit by and watch people suffer.

While we should always focus on preventing bullying, this may be a good month for readers to read books to begin conversations about bullying. We might begin in elementary school by reading The Featherless Chicken (Heryin Books, 2006) by Chih Yuan Chen, then follow in the upper grades with Thank You, Mr. Falker (Philomel Books, 2012)by Patricia Polacco, and keep reading into young adulthood as world views and personal philosophies develop.

Reading wisely selected literature, we can give readers the resources and powers they might not otherwise possess, powers to stand up for those who are treated with cruelty and confidence to speak out against prejudice when they see it. We can also conduct conversations about difference--sharing the notion that difference is not a defect, simply different. Furthermore, in young adult literature (YAL), readers can find solace and support by reading about others who have lived challenging lives and found ways to survive.

One book with the power to serve as a catalyst for sparking conversations on complex social issues like bullying, diversity, and the effects of prejudice is Alan Gratz’s novel Code of Honor (Scholastic, 2015). Using a sports story to explore the contemporary topic of cultural collisions, Gratz raises social consciousness and invites collaborative conversation about these tough topics. It also embodies my definition of Cultural Identity Literature (CIL).

I coined the term CIL to enlarge the traditional term multicultural literature. As a category of literature, CIL also addresses issues of power and oppression and provides an opportunity to view these issues from a different perspective, thereby inspiring empathy-building. The force of such literature is in its ability to engage the reader and to break through barriers. CIL can facilitate the rethinking process because it encourages readers to expand their notion of diversity, thereby normalizing the idea of difference.

Gratz stretches the reader’s vision through his protagonist Kamran Smith, a high school senior whose life at the novel’s beginning seems charmed. A star running back, Kamran is homecoming king and dates beautiful homecoming queen, Julia Gary. He has dreams of going to West Point to follow in his brother Darius’s footsteps as an Army Ranger. All of Kamran’s dreams are destroyed, however, when Darius is accused of being a radical Islamic terrorist and Arizona congresswoman rescinds Kamran’s letter of nomination.

In the wake of Darius’ acts of apparent terrorism, Kamran becomes a target for the hatred and bullying of others who call him “towel head” or “camel jockey.” But he’s Persian American, not Arab, and Persians are often Shi’a Muslims, not Sunni Muslims like al-Qaeda. Still, Kamran can feel the suspicion in the eyes of his classmates, feel the way people watch him simply because he has “the same nose and skin and hair as some monster who’d once hijacked a plane” (23). Because he’s olive skinned and because people care little for the facts, Kamran experiences the derision and hatred of the ignorant.

Despite video evidence that shows Darius attacking the US embassy in Turkey, Kamran refuses to believe that his brother is a traitor to his country. After all, the two boys grew up reenacting mash-ups of old Persian legends in which Rostam and Siyavash vanquished contemporary villains. They lived by a Code of Honor, seven rules that focused on strength, bravery, loyalty, perseverance, truth, helping the helpless, and killing monsters. Living a kind of faith, the two boys would rather die than break their Code.

As evidence against his brother mounts with additional videos released to the American public, Kamran remains adamant that Darius has been brainwashed or that he is a prisoner being used as a pawn. Although Kamran shares his theories with his parents, they are too sad and numbed by shock to listen. When Kamran is captured and detained by the Department of Homeland Security, he repeatedly discloses his theories to government officials, but they have twisted the Code to fit their version of Darius, a radical fighting against American tyranny and punishing the infidels for their crimes against Islam. Their theories plant a seed of doubt in Kamran’s mind, and Kamran wonders if the brother he thought he knew is capable of such betrayal.

The glimmer of hope reignites when Mickey Hagan, an analyst with the CIA who was born in Northern Ireland, befriends Kamran. A kindred spirit of sorts, Mickey tells Kamran about his own brother, Conor Hagan, who joined the Irish Republican Army and what that experience did to alter his life. Whether Mickey believes Kamran or simply wants to help him accept the truth about his own brother, together the two translate the multiple clues that Kamran finds in the videos, clues that form a kind of code that only Kamran would understand. Consumed by his mission to prove that Darius is not a traitor and to live out his Code, Kamran eventually decides he needs to escape his captors, to find and rescue his brother.

Using his football training and his coach’s words, “No doubts. No second guesses. No distractions” (27), Kamran sets out to vindicate his brother and to set right again, his world gone rotten. He wants to return to simpler times, when he wasn’t thought of as a terrorist. He wants to be “Smith, number 13, running back” (32), part of a team, cheered for, encouraged, and judged only on his efforts and accomplishments. Although he won’t give up on his brother, Kamran isn’t sure what he will do with the truth once he discovers it.

Readers will likely find Gratz’s action-packed story both compelling and enlightening. The analogy drawn between the prejudice Kamran encounters and that Mickey experiences with the Protestant and Catholic conflict in Ireland provides a learning tool and opens discussion about what prejudice feels like and how we might mitigate human cruelty and the tendency to hate, reject, or ignore what we don’t know or even try to understand.

With this novel, Gratz encourages cultural border crossing, seeing from multiple perspectives, challenging dominant modes of knowing, and producing knowledge from facts. As CIL, his book works to dispel some of the myths and misperception about diverse cultures. Reflective of our ever-growing diverse society, young adult literature includes a growing body of work—like Gratz’s—that represents different ethnic and cultural groups. Providing access to these texts potentially increases understanding of self and others because CIL can stretch our vision of ourselves and our world.

Through Kamran, readers accept that life hurts and it’s hard, but that unless we put aside our fury and have hope, life can’t progress positively. Winning begins with attitude and with our choices. Inevitably life will throw curves; they’ll come out of nowhere, but these challenges are best met by adapting with grace, opening our minds to alternate perspectives, and abandoning ignorance and rage.